The Deustotech Energy Unit is organizing the "Deusto OpenStreetMap Workshop", which will take place on July 7th at Faculty of Engineering in the University of Deusto.

OpenStreetMap, "the Wikipedia of maps", is an on-line collaborative project aimed towards the creation and availability of free geographic data such as city plans, road maps, bicycle lanes and urban transit lines. The project was born from the lack of free maps that did not include legal restrictions or that required specific techniques in order to be used, hindering those who would be able to work with them in a creative, innnovative and unexpected way.

The first speech will tackle issues concerning the purpose of OpenStreetMaps, the methodology of use and how the collaboration of thousands of people, just as you, is revoluzionating the concept of maps and thus, the vision of an open and seamless culture. We will also show concise examples of OpenStreen Maps applications (for example, those that played a role in humanitarian disasters such as Haiti's earthquake) and other curious ways on how to use it.

After that, we will invite all the attendees to join a small introduction of map editing with OpenStreetMap (no special knowledge is required). In a very practical way (with a hands on aproach) it will be shown how to contribute to the project by modifing data and adding information to the comon repository. Thus, they will learn the basics behind OSM and map making in general, along with the more than 400.000 registered users.

Finally, it will be demoed some of the examples of what can be achieved with OpenStreetMap, from the point of view of the geografical information software: from very practical and easy tasks such as adding an OSM
map to a web page (usage of Openlayers), going through the use of different OSM-related APIs (editing, search, etc.) to the setting up of our own map server and rendering (PostGIS, Mapnik). All of them done with free software.

A mapping party involves a bunch of people collecting some data around just before gahering and editing the map together. If you are going to take part on the editing workshop, you can join us in orther to get your own data. A GPS unit is not usually a must, but it comes handy if you own one (almost all recent smartphones include it). A pen and a notebook or a camera can be useful to take some notes, too.

If there are enough people willing to participate, the demonstration of data gathering will take place on the surroundings of the Iberdrola Tower and the Campa de los Ingleses (considering they are available for public research). Another option could be to map the surroundings of Zorrozaurre. If none of these two options were possible, the practical demonstration will take place on the campus of the University of Deusto.